Japan demands apology from China over weapons-linked radar

Japan demanded a formal apology from China yesterday for a "one-sided provocation" after its navy targetted a Japanese destroyer patrolling the disputed Senkaku Islands with weapons-linked radars.

Mr Abe told parliament that China's increasing aggression in the East China Sea around the Senkakus was forcing his government to adopt a "robust diplomatic response".Photo: EPA

By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

4:09PM GMT 08 Feb 2013

Shinzo Abe, the prime minister, angrily rejected Chinese denials that it had engaged military radars in the area as the escalating dispute between Tokyo and Beijing forced the Japanese foreign ministry call in the Chinese ambassador for a dressing down.

Statements issued in Beijing flatly denied its forces had engaged the offensive radar systems, dismissing the Japanese claims about the incident, which took place last month, as "against the facts".

"We wish China to acknowledge it, apologise for it and make efforts to prevent it from recurring," he said. "We have confirmed visually and by photographs and other means such details as whether the radar was directed this way."

Mr Abe told parliament that China's increasing aggression in the East China Sea around the Senkakus was forcing his government to adopt a "robust diplomatic response".

But China said that Japanese complaints about two incidents was inflammatory. "Japan again deliberately spread false information to smear China's image and play up the China threat," Hua Chunying, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said. "This has created tension and misled international opinion. We cannot help but ask what is Japan's true intention."

The uninhabited islands, called Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, lie in an area rich in fish, oil and natural gas. Japan's purchase of three of the islands in September prompted violent protests in China that damaged Japanese businesses.

Satoshi Morimoto, who stepped down as Japanese defence minister in December, predicted a further series of provocations from China, claiming Beijing had drawn up plans to land a helicopter-borne force on the island and other measures. "It is conceivable that it may even try to ram Japan Coast Guard cutters and arrest Japanese crew members," he said. "I am worried that China will keep prodding Japan in the hopes of getting a rise from the Abe administration."

Alessio Patalano, an expert in East Asian naval forces at King's College, warned that the dangers of a confrontation spilling over into clashes was real as the sophisticated Japanese navy struggles to cope with a Chinese counterpart that is a relatively unknown quantity.

"There is an element of risk here for Japanese access to the sea is a matter of national survival while the Chinese are under pressure at home to prove themselves and no one knows how professional they are," he said.

The Japanese navy boasts a surface fleet twice the size of the Royal Navy dedicated to keeping Japan's sea lanes unimpeded.